San Diego's first waterfront hotel in years is expected to rise on Harbor Drive by 2015, thanks to the California Coastal Commission's unanimous approval Wednesday of the $120 million project.

Seven years in the making, the development was widely praised at the hearing by commissioners and public speakers as a welcome addition to the waterfront that will complement the ongoing redevelopment of the North Embarcadero.

The site of the hotel is Lane Field, where the Padres played from 1936 to 1957, but it has since been a parking lot for more than 50 years awaiting a project for what is considered a key gateway location.

Located at the northeast corner of Broadway and Harbor Drive, the project's first phase consists of a two-wing building containing two mid-scale hotels of 150 and 250 rooms and served by a four-level, above-ground parking structure. The plans include a rooftop restaurant or bar, terrace level swimming pool and second-floor outdoor deck facing the bay.

Project manager Jerry Trammer said the hotels would be akin to a Hilton Garden Inn or Homewood Suites. He expects an announcement soon on a national chain that will operate the hotels. Once financing for the project is complete, Trammer expects construction to begin in August, with the hotel expected to open 20 months later.

The last waterfront hotel to open in San Diego was the 1,190-room San Diego Bayfront Hilton, which debuted in December of 2008.

"We do believe there will be a need for more supply," said Trammer, "and since this is a more mid-scale hotel, it's therefore more affordable, and there's a need for that."

A key part of the project is a required 1.7- acre park, to be developed as a 150-foot wide setback from Harbor Drive. It will be a combination of a paved plaza and large areas of open lawn, with pedestrian paths, lighting, trees, an interactive sculpture area, a small food pavilion, and recreation spaces. It will also be designed to include multiple event spaces to accommodate both small groups and larger civic gatherings and festivals of up to 3,000 people.

The developers were required to redesign the project in response to environmentalists’ demands for a 150-foot-wide setback park that would link to the $28 million North Embarcadero Visionary Plan first phase now under construction. Developers were also able to avoid opposition from labor groups by agreeing to require union construction labor and to welcome unionized workers at the finished hotels.

"This is how all of the hotel projects should come forward," said San Diego labor leader Brigette Browning, who heads the local Unite Here hotel workers union. "I've never seen a developer work so hard to accommodate different constituency groups. You probably recognize we're not normally here supporting projects."

Also required of the developer was a $6 million fee that is to go toward the development of affordable lodging on port tidelands.

A second phase is planned by the developer for the southern part of the 5.7-acre site and is expected to be a taller, more upscale 400-room hotel of about 22 to 23 stories, not unlike an InterContinental. It would share the motor court entering off Pacific Highway.

The developer's hope is to start construction of the project's second phase about a year after the first hotels get underway, but that will depend on financing, which may be more difficult to secure than for the first phase, Trammer acknowledged. The pricetag, he said, could be as high as $250 million.